Plus jeden deň, 10.12.2012 EN

The Slovak Republic must pay a massive fine to the
Slovak-Dutch company Achmea, the owner of the health insurance company Union,
for a lost dispute concerning the ban of profits.

The prime minister claims nothing is lost, but experts
say chances of reversing the verdict are minimal.

Will Union receive €22 million?

As compensation for the resulting damages, Slovakia
must pay 22 million euro in damages and 3 million euro in legal costs. A
further 13 million euro is supposedly owed to the lawyers that represented
Slovakia in the dispute, incurring a total of 38 million Euro in losses.

The tribunal declared that Slovakia has breached an
investment agreement with the Netherlands when health insurance profits were
banned during Fico's first term.

"The ruling is not legally binding", Prime
Minister Robert Fico claims, "We can see that you are riled up about this,
but we are not", adding that the lawsuit asked for a sum that was larger
by several magnitudes.

Read more:

The lost arbitration with insurance companies cannot
be reversed, says MP Lipsic

According to the ministry of finance, Slovakia will be
able to contest the decision and the conflict will reach the European Court of
Justice. MP David Lipsic, on the other hand, claims the verdict cannot be
undone and that the fine will be enforced.

Expert opinion

Arbitration expert Jana Martinková believes the
decision is legally binding and chances for any reversal are minimal:

"Slovakia had a good chance at winning this
conflict, but they made a significant mistake in the first legal proceedings by
not contesting the tribunal's jurisdiction soon enough."

According to attorney Jana Martinková, not all
available arguments were used when the severity of the fine was first
expressed.

Slovakia had previously won a similar legal conflict
with the insurance company Dovera.

The law firm Skadden, representing the state at that
time, should have offered their services in this case as well. Unfortunately,
Slovakia was ultimately represented by a different organization.